So you own an iPad and a Mac and they are great, but what if you could use them together to completely change the way you work with minimal expense? Well, now you can thanks to Actions for iPad, which gives you a completely new control mechanism for your Mac and one that is infinitely more flexible and easy to use than many competing solutions. Whether you own an iPad mini or a standard-sized iPad, you will be able to use Actions to quickly navigate around your Mac and to open and close your most-used apps in a second. You can also create your own personalised shortcuts and tweak it in any way you like so that it becomes truly personal to you. In this tutorial we will show you how to set up Actions, how to connect it to your Mac and how to create personalised shortcuts, and then give you further tips on making the most out of it. This solution could completely change the way you work and hopefully make you much more efficient. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Download the software

Download the Actions for iPad app from the App Store and then head over to http://getactionsapp. com to download the Actions Server software. Choose the Mac version and install as normal.

Step 2: Read the tutorials

Open Actions on the iPad and a tutorial will pop up straight away. Take some time to read this as it contains many useful tips and instructions which will come in handy later.

Step 3: Time to connect

Once you have finished reading the tutorial, open up Actions Server on your Mac and you will see a request for a pairing code. Input this and they will connect. It’s as easy as that.

Step 4: Future connections

In future, they will connect automatically when both applications are open, but you can use three fingers to swipe down and then tap the computer icon to do so manually.

Step 5: Use the shortcuts

You can now play around with the shortcuts that are already built in to Actions. For example, tap Get Info and the Info window will pop up for the app you are currently using.

Step 6: Shortcut changes

Tapping the pencil in the top-right hand corner of the main screen will let you remove shortcuts quickly and also add new ones by tapping the Create option in the blank square.

Step 7: Choose target app

Once you press Create, you need to give your new shortcut a memorable name in the Label field and then choose a target app if required – all installed apps will be listed.

Step 8: Assigning key combinations

You also have the option of assigning key combinations to an icon – just choose the shortcut keys and then manually type in a defining letter or number on the iPad keyboard.

Step 9: Handy presets

Selecting Load rather than Create as shown in step 7 will let you choose from a number of handy presets that the developer has built in to the app. Many popular apps are included.